# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 383
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7651 "2023-10-03T15:26:14Z")
TIL that Isa Lake, in Yellowstone Park, is right on the Continental Divide. And water from the lake flows to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. (How, I don’t know.) Isa Lake is located between Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7652 "2023-10-03T19:15:34Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > There is one armored truck that I sometimes see that has duel rear axles. Constantly fighting with each other? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7653 "2023-10-03T23:13:16Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > …and is due to the bending resistance of the string. Ah, OK, I was trying to think of ways in which a string would be non-ideal, and the change in length due to deflection was the most obvious one, but of course stiffness would also be non-ideal. > [@smithsb](#): > > “A typical 21-gram African swallow (a South African cliff swallow, in particular) travelling at galactic speeds would have an energy of 420 million Joules, which is approximately the impact energy of an adult [bull sperm whale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale) (40 tons) plummeting off Canada’s [Mount Thor](http://www.summitpost.org/thor-peak/152337), the tallest vertical cliff in the world (1,250 meters).” Oh, no, not again. > [@Railer13](#): > > TIL that Isa Lake, in Yellowstone Park, is right on the Continental Divide. And water from the lake flows to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. (How, I don’t know.) I’ve been there. “Lake” is generous. It’s on the small side for a pond, and the drainage on both sides is a trickle you could step over and keep your feet dry. But yes, it drains both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7654 "2023-10-03T23:21:32Z")
Today I learned that Joseph Merrick AKA “The Elephant Man” likely suffered from [Proteus syndrome](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus_syndrome). (They can’t prove it, though, because the museum bleached his bones so much, they destroyed the DNA.) If you’d like a supremely depressing rabbit hole to fall into, you can’t do worse than Joseph Merrick. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7655 "2023-10-04T00:01:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve been there. “Lake” is generous. It’s on the small side for a pond, and the drainage on both sides is a trickle you could step over and keep your feet dry. But yes, it drains both ways. I’ve been to Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota. There’s a small stream that flows out of the lake and can be crossed on stepping stones. It’s the Mississippi River. (I’ve seen that cited as the source of the Mississippi, but I think that’s just for PR. There are streams that flow into Lake Itasca.) ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7656 "2023-10-04T00:05:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But yes, it drains both ways. Fair enough. Still, it’s pretty cool that the different ends of a puddle are at different sides of the continental divide. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7657 "2023-10-04T02:07:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > (I’ve seen that cited as the source of the Mississippi, but I think that’s just for PR. There are streams that flow into Lake Itasca.) If you start at New Orleans and follow the river upstream, you end up in Pittsburgh and beyond. If you miss that and follow the other river upstream, you end up in Montana and maybe eventually Wyoming. It’s only if you take the wrong turn twice that you can end up in Minnesota. > [@Railer13](#): > > Fair enough. Still, it’s pretty cool that the different ends of a puddle are at different sides of the continental divide. It also has the fortunate effect that a vampire can’t travel under his own power from Mexico to the northern US. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7658 "2023-10-04T02:37:26Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > (I’ve seen that cited as the source of the Mississippi, but I think that’s just for PR. There are streams that flow into Lake Itasca.) The difference is that, when measured, all the streams going into the lake, were doing so at the same rate so one was not dominant over the others. Therefore, the lake is considered the start of the river and not a specific stream. It is the rate of water flow that is used to determine the “source” or path of the river. At the time it was measured, the major flow lead up to Minnesota, not Montana or Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7659 "2023-10-04T05:03:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It also has the fortunate effect that a vampire can’t travel under his own power from Mexico to the northern US. I … what? Can you 'splain, please? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7660 "2023-10-04T06:05:24Z")
I think there’s some part of vampire lore that says they can not cross flowing water. Depending on how tightly the rules are enforced, there may be a spot in the middle of that pond that one could cross. A couple heads of garlic in the right place would take care of that. Or would it? Are we sure that water flows from that pond all the way to both coasts? If the western side flows to the Great Basin, or into the Colorado River, then there might be places that allow passage (most of the time). ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7661 "2023-10-04T10:55:41Z")
Since 1943, radio station WTIC (1080 AM) in Hartford, Connecticut has played the Morse code letter “V” (dot-dot-dot-dash), originally as “V for victory”, to mark the top of each hour. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7662 "2023-10-04T12:16:04Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Today I learned that Joseph Merrick AKA “The Elephant Man” likely suffered from [Proteus syndrome](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus_syndrome). > > (They can’t prove it, though, because the museum bleached his bones so much, they destroyed the DNA.) > > If you’d like a supremely depressing rabbit hole to fall into, you can’t do worse than Joseph Merrick. The diagnosis keeps changing. When Bernard Pomerance’s play came out it was thought to be neurofibromatosis, AKA Von Reckilinghausen’s disease. There was even an ad in the Playbill for the National Neurofibromatosis organization. Then that was disproven, and several other diagnoses came along. It’s not certain that he had Proteus syndrome (and at least one has suggested Proteus syndrome AND neurofibromatosis.) They traced members of his family, but DNA testing on them hasn’t provided conclusive results. I first learned about Merrick from Ashley Montagu’s book _The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity_, and thought it’d make for a dynamite play. But Pomerance beat me to it. Lynch’s film is worth watching, too, but takes quite a few liberties with the facts. The most interesting book on him I’ve read is Michael Howard and Peter Halls _The True History of the Elephant Man_ from 1980, which has been reprinted numerous times, but is now getting dated. There have been more recent books on him, I see from the Wikipedia article. I’ll have to look them up. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7663 "2023-10-04T12:43:13Z")
During WWII, the US Army Air Force was famous for, among other things, the nose decorating their planes. Ranging from simple names of sweethearts, to cartoon characters (DIsney was popular) to racy pinups, nose art was tolerated by AAF commanders as it was thought to boost morale. In the US Navy, however, nose art was discouraged if not outright banned. Very few Navy planes had any kind of unofficial decoration. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7664 "2023-10-04T13:07:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Railer13](#): > > > > TIL that Isa Lake, in Yellowstone Park, is right on the Continental Divide. And water from the lake flows to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. (How, I don’t know.) > > I’ve been there. “Lake” is generous. It’s on the small side for a pond, and the drainage on both sides is a trickle you could step over and keep your feet dry. But yes, it drains both ways. [Depending on the amount of snow melt.](https://www.nps.gov/places/000/isa-lake.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7665 "2023-10-04T18:41:40Z")
The 1928 Olympic Women’s 800m final was a disaster for women’s athletics: > It’s one of those stories that gets told over and over. When the women’s 800 meters was included in the Olympic Games for the first time at Amsterdam in 1928, several runners collapsed at the finish. Shocked at the public spectacle of women in such distress, the all-male Olympic establishment cut the event… > > …“Below us on the cinder path were 11 wretched women, 5 of whom dropped out before the finish, while 5 collapsed after reaching the tape,” wrote John Tunis of the _New York Evening Post_. - and, of course, it was all lies. And it was a story that persisted for many decades, it would appear. The quote is taken from the article which finally debunked the myth - _ **84 years** _ after the events. What actually happened? Nine women, not eleven, took part in the race, and all were recorded as finishing, with one runner falling as she crossed the line, being promptly helped to her feet, and in no particular distress. Nothing to see here, folks. The debunking was in the 2012 Runner’s World article that I took the quote from: > **[“Eleven Wretched Women”](https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20802639/eleven-wretched-women/)** > > What really happened in the first Olympic women’s 800 meters. From the same article (bolding mine):: > It was luridly falsified versions, not the reality of what happened at the finish line in 1928, that **enabled the IOC to keep the women’s 800 meters off the program until 1960**. Sheesh. j ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7666 "2023-10-04T22:45:33Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > Since 1943, radio station WTIC (1080 AM) in Hartford, Connecticut has played the Morse code letter “V” (dot-dot-dot-dash), originally as “V for victory”, to mark the top of each hour. They could just play the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7667 "2023-10-04T23:09:18Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > It was luridly falsified versions, not the reality of what happened at the finish line in 1928, that **enabled the IOC to keep the women’s 800 meters off the program until 1960**. truth is, women didn’t have the financial means then to bribe the IOC to allow them in again ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7668 "2023-10-05T01:34:38Z")
If you are interested in anthropology and you know German, it may have occurred to you that the name _Neander_, as in _Neandertal_ doesn’t seem at all like a typical German toponym. In fact, the letter sequence “ea” doesn’t exist in native German words. It turns out Joachim Neumann, a 17th century pastor, poet, and composer of hymns, made this valley a favorite location in which to unwind. Like many educated Germans of the time, he adopted a classical translation of his name, in his case Greek: _Neander_ = _neuer Mann_ = “new man”. So his graeicized name was given to his favorite place. > **[neanderthal | Etymology, origin and meaning of the name neanderthal by...](https://www.etymonline.com/word/Neanderthal)** > > NEANDERTHAL Meaning: "Neander Valley," name of a gorge near Düsseldorf where humanoid fossils were identified in 1856. The… See origin and meaning of neanderthal. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7669 "2023-10-05T03:40:59Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Pizza chains rue the inefficiency of baking round pies. I’ve wondered if they could bake rectangular pizzas in a tray with scalloped edges such that the pizza could then be cut into wedges and rearranged as a “pie”. Why bother with the scalloped edges? Just baking in a rectangular pan would do it, for any even number of pieces. Just divide the long edges into equal parts and voila! You’d wind up with a polygon, not a circle. For a regular polygon with perfect isosceles triangles, the points on each side would have to be staggered, and you’d have half-pieces on each end. Another option would be to use right triangles, as in a diagonal of a rectangle. But then the edge wouldn’t be perfectly regular. But I suppose people might complain that the pizza was smaller without the scalloped edges and they were being overcharged. Why haven’t they done this already? Who knows? It’s easier to cut squares in a rectangular pan, I guess. Or people prefer circular pies. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/7670 "2023-10-05T03:44:56Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Why bother with the scalloped edges? Just baking in a rectangular pan would do it, for any even number of pieces. The problem with rectangular pies is that the corners will burn before the sides. Round pizzas eliminate that problem. I, too, see no benefit to scalloped edges. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=382) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=384)